Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Is There A Secret Graffiti Artist Lurking Inside You

Hi, Terri Stegmiller here. Have you found that some things are challenging to sketch while on location, because they usually aren't sitting still? That's when a camera comes in handy. Or your imagination and memory.

Have you ever sat at a railroad crossing, waiting for the train to pass by, and observed how some of the rail cars have become canvases for art work. I know that painting on these kinds of public and privately-owned surfaces is illegal. But sometimes when I see these designs I find myself wondering about the people who did them. Do these rebel artists have art on many train cars and public places? How long ago did they paint the design and how many places has it traveled? Do they actually have hopes of doing something with their talents some day? I find most of the graffiti lettering difficult to read and I'm sure that it means something to someone, but I most enjoy the colors and shapes. Ocassionally I see art that isn't words or letters on these passing trains too. It makes a boring few minutes at the crossing a bit more interesting.

I thought it would be fun to sketch my own train car and decorate it. I'm not about to go undercover with spray paint down to the train yard in hopes that I won't get caught. I'm just not that rebellious and adventuresome.

I then printed out some copies of my train car and decorated it. Is there a secret graffiti artist lurking inside of you? What would you paint on a train car?

Hi Terry, lovely doodle-street art on the train car! I too, was intrigued to create journal pages on graffiti when I saw a stretch of graffiti wall in town that goes forever. I blogged about it recently and about to create another graffiti-inspired soon. TFS!

Hi Terri, I think that is a great idea - drawing your own train car and decorating it with graffiti. As a 64 year old woman who grew up in a home where we respected public property (so many young people these days don't understand that concept), I shudder when I see scribble all over public buildings. Why don't they just get paper like REAL artists and draw their graffiti art on that?